Christopher Knight: “What was once a project designed to add nearly 50,000 square feet of critically needed gallery space committed to showcasing the museum’s impressive and still-growing permanent collection of paintings, sculptures and other global works of art has been turned on its head. Now, rather than enlarge the capacity, the scheme is to reduce the existing gallery square footage by more than 10,000 square feet.” – Los Angeles Times
Category: visual
Salvador Dalí, Book Illustrator
“Throughout the second half of his life, Dalí had a curious side-project … illustrating the Western canon: Don Quixote and Macbeth in 1946; The Divine Comedy between 1951 and 1964; the Bible between 1963 and 1964; Alice in Wonderland in 1969; Henry V and Henry VI in 1970; The Life of Gargantua and Pantagruel in 1973; and Paradise Lost in 1974. Browsing a shelf of the West’s most renowned titles, it’s surprisingly hard to find one for which he didn’t do the pictures.” – Artsy
Federal Judge Strikes Down Oklahoma Law About Marketing Of Native American Art
“U.S. District Judge Charles B. Goodwin ruled that the Oklahoma Indian Arts and Crafts Sales Act violates the U.S. Constitution because it is more restrictive than a federal law with the same purpose — protecting and promoting Indian artists. The Oklahoma law requires artists to be members of a federally recognized tribe if they are to market their art as American Indian. The federal law also allows members of tribes recognized only by a state to market art as American Indian, along with artists certified by Indian tribes.” – The Oklahoman
Ancient Roman Fast-Food Restaurants Uncovered By Pompeii Archaeologists
“The 150 or so thermopolia, or snack bars, dotted across the city were mostly used by the poorer residents, who rarely had cooking facilities in their home, to grab a snack or drink. Typical menus included coarse bread with salty fish, baked cheese, lentils and spicy wine.” – The Guardian
European Parliament Moves To Do Away With ‘Freeport’ Facilities For Art Trans-Shipment And Storage
Freeports were created as duty-free facilities for temporary storage of art and valuables in transit. But with the EU having eliminated banking secrecy, art has become an asset class — and a vehicle for tax evasion and money laundering. So the number of freeports in Europe has mushroomed, with tax evaders and money launderers storing assets there long-term and in secrecy. – The Art Newspaper
Museums Are Having An Existential Moral Crisis
Protests over the sources of money that funds them. Calls for repatriation of plundered artifacts. Demands for cultural diversity and inclusion. Running a museum these days is a never-ending string of moral decisions. – The Economist
Ralph Rugoff On The Venice Biennale He Has Curated: All About Ambiguity
Why? “We process information in two different styles: we have a very rapid, intuitive style and a more analytical and considered style. Behavioral economists have studied this, and they find that, in contrast to classical economic theory, which talks about a rational homoeconomicus, most decisions are actually made completely irrationally—they are made out of greed and fear.” – Artnet
Art Institute Of Chicago Postpones Major Native American Show After Realizing It Didn’t Get Enough Native Input
“‘Worlds Within: Mimbres Pottery of the Ancient Southwest’ … was slated to open May 26 in Regenstein Gallery, the museum’s primary space for temporary exhibitions. But [director] James Rondeau … said that as the show approached it became increasingly clear that more work needed to be done to represent native voices in the project.” – Chicago Tribune
A Case For How Blockchain Might Democratize Art
Frankly, we’re still dubious, but here’s a claim by an expert: “Today, thanks to digital art, we have the opportunity to make art truly democratic, which meets both a real economic demand and a moral goal if we believe in the importance of art in life.” – The Observer
Dept. Of Chutzpah: Mercedes-Benz Uses Artists’ Murals On Its Instagram, Then Sues Artists
“Mercedes-Benz USA has filed lawsuits against four artists, seeking a federal judge’s ruling that its use of their outdoor Detroit art in Instagram posts in 2018 did not infringe on their copyrights. … The lawsuits, filed Friday, claim that a year after the Instagram post, artists Daniel Bombardier, James “Dabls” Lewis, and Jeff Soto and Maxx Gramajo threatened copyright infringement lawsuits against the company. ” – Detroit News